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Englewood rejoices with Black History Month concerts, lecture

By: 
Linda Moss / The Record

[The Record] First the Englewood Public Library hosted a speaker who said the Bible really tells the history of blacks. That was followed by a concert by a Tenafly clarinet and saxophone soloist.

And in between, just blocks away on Engle Street, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church held its own concert, featuring Follow the Drinking Gourd, a trio who named themselves after a song used to steer slaves to freedom via the Underground Railroad.

“When you study African-American history, you learn that the slaves brought to this country weren’t taught to read and write,” said Diane Goldsmith, the pianist in the trio. “They were prohibited from doing that. They were prohibited from speaking to one another, because the masters were afraid they would conspire to run away. So they had to find ways to communicate with one another other than the usual. One of them was through song.”